WEBVTT 00:00:05.160 --> 00:00:09.019 All across America and around the world, this 00:00:09.019 --> 00:00:15.140 is Veterans Radio. This is Veterans Radio. Good 00:00:15.140 --> 00:00:18.739 day. I'm Jim Fausone. I'm the Officer of the Deck 00:00:18.739 --> 00:00:21.179 today here on Veterans Radio and thanks for joining 00:00:21.179 --> 00:00:23.899 us. We've got some interesting stories for you. 00:00:24.059 --> 00:00:26.199 We always want to remind you, you can find more 00:00:26.199 --> 00:00:29.620 about Veterans Radio at its Facebook site or 00:00:29.620 --> 00:00:32.799 at the web, veteransradio .org. Where we're on 00:00:32.799 --> 00:00:35.979 the web 24 -7, you can find a lot of our podcasts 00:00:35.979 --> 00:00:39.380 there as well. We post new ones every Tuesday, 00:00:39.520 --> 00:00:43.820 so you can get a new story, a new interview, 00:00:43.920 --> 00:00:46.840 something you didn't know before by going to 00:00:46.840 --> 00:00:49.700 veteransradio .org. And before we get started, 00:00:49.880 --> 00:00:53.159 we want to thank our sponsors. First up, we want 00:00:53.159 --> 00:00:55.899 to thank National Veteran Business Development 00:00:55.899 --> 00:01:02.600 Council, NVBDC .org. It was established to certify 00:01:02.600 --> 00:01:05.299 both service -disabled and veteran -owned businesses. 00:01:05.620 --> 00:01:07.560 You'll find out how they can help your business 00:01:07.560 --> 00:01:13.439 by going to NVBDC .org. We want to thank Legal 00:01:13.439 --> 00:01:17.359 Help for Veterans. Legal Help for Veterans fights 00:01:17.359 --> 00:01:20.219 for veterans disability rights all across the 00:01:20.219 --> 00:01:26.519 nation. You can reach them at 800 -693 -4800 00:01:26.519 --> 00:01:32.579 or on the web at legalhelpforveterans .com. And 00:01:32.579 --> 00:01:36.700 finally, PuroClean. PuroClean is the paramedics 00:01:36.700 --> 00:01:39.060 of property damage. It provides water damage 00:01:39.060 --> 00:01:42.480 remediation, flood water removal, fire and smoke 00:01:42.480 --> 00:01:46.200 damage remediation, mold removal, biohazard cleanup. 00:01:47.060 --> 00:01:51.480 It also has a focus on veteran franchisees. You 00:01:51.480 --> 00:01:54.379 can learn more about them by going to PuroClean 00:01:54.379 --> 00:01:58.599 .com. We want to give you a little advance notice. 00:01:58.599 --> 00:02:02.560 We're going to have a Veterans Radio event on 00:02:02.560 --> 00:02:07.719 Sunday, September 28, 2025. Radio on the River. 00:02:08.219 --> 00:02:10.879 We're doing a new location on Freedom River in 00:02:10.879 --> 00:02:14.379 Livingston County, Michigan. We want you to save 00:02:14.379 --> 00:02:16.340 the date. We're going to have veteran storytelling 00:02:16.340 --> 00:02:18.759 and guest speakers. We'll have raffle items, 00:02:19.259 --> 00:02:23.580 great local musicians and food. Also, uniquely, 00:02:23.699 --> 00:02:25.879 there's going to be an opportunity to fly in 00:02:25.879 --> 00:02:29.099 a UH -1 Huey from the Michigan Flight Museum. 00:02:29.719 --> 00:02:32.240 And maybe you can also win a free ride that way. 00:02:33.180 --> 00:02:36.620 But plan on supporting Veterans Radio either 00:02:36.620 --> 00:02:40.180 by buying tickets or sponsoring Radio on the 00:02:40.180 --> 00:02:45.319 River. Contact us at Dale at VeteransRadio .org 00:02:45.319 --> 00:02:48.800 or Jim at VeteransRadio .org to get more information 00:02:48.800 --> 00:02:51.719 but we'd love to have you come out and we'd certainly 00:02:51.719 --> 00:02:54.599 love to have you sponsor. We just want to remind 00:02:54.599 --> 00:02:59.099 you that Veterans Radio podcasts are available 00:02:59.099 --> 00:03:02.580 on all your favorite streaming platforms including 00:03:02.580 --> 00:03:09.360 RSS .com, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube Podcasts, 00:03:09.419 --> 00:03:12.740 iHeartRadio, and Reeves Across America radio. 00:03:13.400 --> 00:03:16.099 So wherever you are, you can find us, whether 00:03:16.099 --> 00:03:19.240 it's on your mobile phone or your computer or 00:03:19.240 --> 00:03:22.939 your laptop, your tablet, but listen in to Veterans 00:03:22.939 --> 00:03:25.680 Radio podcast. We post something new every week 00:03:25.680 --> 00:03:29.960 and you're going to find it informative. We want 00:03:29.960 --> 00:03:34.180 to welcome to Veterans Radio today, Rick Berman, 00:03:34.460 --> 00:03:37.919 who is the executive director of the Ram Veterans 00:03:37.919 --> 00:03:41.139 Foundation and the Mercer Family Foundation. 00:03:41.400 --> 00:03:43.939 And they have something called charitiesforvets 00:03:43.939 --> 00:03:47.080 .org that Rick's going to tell us about that 00:03:47.080 --> 00:03:49.340 I think is really important for people to know 00:03:49.340 --> 00:03:52.759 about. Rick, welcome to Veterans Radio. Thanks 00:03:52.759 --> 00:03:56.849 so much, Jim. So this started, this Charities 00:03:56.849 --> 00:04:03.330 for Vets, I think, started in 2022. Tell us, 00:04:03.469 --> 00:04:05.870 as a veterans advocate, kind of how you got into 00:04:05.870 --> 00:04:10.110 this and what problem you saw needed to be solved. 00:04:11.770 --> 00:04:15.830 Well, I've had a long history of advocacy on 00:04:15.830 --> 00:04:20.939 behalf of private interests ranging from issues 00:04:20.939 --> 00:04:25.800 in the environmental area, labor area, financial 00:04:25.800 --> 00:04:29.680 area, and basically what I was doing on behalf 00:04:29.680 --> 00:04:32.579 of clients is correcting the record in terms 00:04:32.579 --> 00:04:35.660 of public opinion. You know, there's a lot of 00:04:35.660 --> 00:04:38.300 groups out there that have an agenda and they 00:04:38.300 --> 00:04:40.860 say things that are untrue or they take facts 00:04:40.860 --> 00:04:44.579 and they twist them. And so for very many years, 00:04:44.860 --> 00:04:49.519 my job was to, as I say, correct the record and 00:04:49.449 --> 00:04:52.769 then to put out information for the public where 00:04:52.769 --> 00:04:56.290 they would say, oh, you know, I never thought 00:04:56.290 --> 00:04:59.769 of it that way before. I would give people information 00:04:59.769 --> 00:05:03.769 that made them think twice. And and I retired 00:05:03.769 --> 00:05:08.269 from my business two and a half years ago. And 00:05:08.269 --> 00:05:10.610 about the time I was retiring from my business, 00:05:10.610 --> 00:05:12.949 I was familiar with these groups, these active 00:05:12.949 --> 00:05:16.470 groups that that are always putting out information 00:05:16.470 --> 00:05:19.189 in there. And they're collecting a lot of money. 00:05:19.250 --> 00:05:23.350 They're scaring people with All sorts of doom 00:05:23.350 --> 00:05:27.389 and gloom And you know contribute to our organization 00:05:27.389 --> 00:05:32.110 and will stop all that from happening and And 00:05:32.110 --> 00:05:35.170 so one day I was just watching television and 00:05:35.170 --> 00:05:39.410 I saw a commercial for veteran for veterans or 00:05:39.410 --> 00:05:43.050 I should say for donors A commercial for donors 00:05:43.050 --> 00:05:45.569 to contribute and they were going to help veterans 00:05:46.699 --> 00:05:48.939 And I thought to myself, you know, I've seen 00:05:48.939 --> 00:05:51.279 so many of these groups that over promise and 00:05:51.279 --> 00:05:53.779 under deliver. I've just wondered if that was 00:05:53.779 --> 00:05:56.579 going on in the veteran space. And so I just 00:05:56.579 --> 00:05:58.800 did some investigation as I had done many times 00:05:58.800 --> 00:06:01.279 before, you know, you look up tax returns, et 00:06:01.279 --> 00:06:03.879 cetera. And I did it for the big organizations. 00:06:04.379 --> 00:06:07.319 And I thought, my God, there's a lot of people 00:06:07.319 --> 00:06:09.920 here who are contributing to organizations and 00:06:09.920 --> 00:06:13.079 they have no idea what people are doing with 00:06:13.079 --> 00:06:17.579 their money. And Rebecca Mercer is a friend of 00:06:17.579 --> 00:06:19.899 mine and I and she's a great philanthropist and 00:06:19.899 --> 00:06:22.480 I went to see Rebecca and I said you ever heard 00:06:22.480 --> 00:06:25.740 of this this problem and she said no and I said 00:06:25.740 --> 00:06:28.779 you got any interest and she said well as a matter 00:06:28.779 --> 00:06:32.220 of fact I have a great uncle who was killed in 00:06:32.220 --> 00:06:35.920 France fighting the Nazis and I've always had 00:06:35.920 --> 00:06:38.399 a warm spot in my heart for veterans and she 00:06:38.399 --> 00:06:40.040 said you know if we can do something about that 00:06:40.040 --> 00:06:44.769 let's do it. So between Rebecca and I We put 00:06:44.769 --> 00:06:47.269 up a million dollars to start this organization 00:06:47.269 --> 00:06:49.449 and that meant we had to do the research. We 00:06:49.449 --> 00:06:53.670 had to put out information that would create 00:06:53.670 --> 00:06:57.709 an awareness among people. We got 60 billboards 00:06:57.709 --> 00:07:01.089 when we started out. We put them up in Times 00:07:01.089 --> 00:07:05.250 Square and around the country and created some 00:07:05.250 --> 00:07:07.670 videos and of course using the power of the internet 00:07:07.670 --> 00:07:13.269 gave us an appeal to a lot of people. at the 00:07:13.269 --> 00:07:16.149 end of the day we started to raise more money 00:07:16.149 --> 00:07:20.430 and our goal was number one to stay focused on 00:07:20.430 --> 00:07:23.129 veterans who were not going to have an organization 00:07:23.129 --> 00:07:27.029 that rated charities from you know from children's 00:07:27.029 --> 00:07:30.069 health to environment issues etc. We're just 00:07:30.069 --> 00:07:31.649 going to stay on veterans and I was only going 00:07:31.649 --> 00:07:34.350 to do large veteran charities. I mean there's 00:07:34.350 --> 00:07:35.970 a lot of them out there as you know you know 00:07:35.970 --> 00:07:38.189 you go from wounded warriors to tunnel to towers 00:07:38.189 --> 00:07:40.110 and some of these other high profile groups. 00:07:40.540 --> 00:07:42.839 And I said, let's just do 100 of these things. 00:07:42.959 --> 00:07:46.480 We'll do the 100 biggest ones we can find. And 00:07:46.480 --> 00:07:50.420 we'll put them into categories. We're going to 00:07:50.420 --> 00:07:52.819 be very straightforward about it. We'll say, 00:07:53.120 --> 00:07:55.560 we're going to recommend some. Then there'll 00:07:55.560 --> 00:07:57.740 be some that are highly recommended because they're 00:07:57.740 --> 00:08:00.240 really good. And then we're going to say, hey, 00:08:00.379 --> 00:08:01.839 there's a bunch of charities out there that I 00:08:01.839 --> 00:08:03.300 wouldn't give my money to and neither should 00:08:03.300 --> 00:08:07.079 you. And I think that's the the the thing that 00:08:07.079 --> 00:08:09.939 hooked me in finding out about charities for 00:08:09.939 --> 00:08:14.500 vets org is like Yeah, there's and you hear about 00:08:14.500 --> 00:08:17.120 it every year every state, you know, there are 00:08:17.120 --> 00:08:21.740 there are scams targeted not only to veterans 00:08:21.740 --> 00:08:25.540 but to supporters of veterans and you go like 00:08:25.540 --> 00:08:29.620 why are you wasting your money on that scam your 00:08:29.620 --> 00:08:32.519 hearts in the right spot your but your pocketbook 00:08:32.519 --> 00:08:35.340 isn't and and so that's really what you were 00:08:35.340 --> 00:08:38.720 drilling in on wasn't it yeah and and of course 00:08:38.720 --> 00:08:41.659 i wanted people to stop giving to those to those 00:08:41.659 --> 00:08:43.720 groups but on the other hand i didn't want to 00:08:43.720 --> 00:08:46.759 just sit on their checkbook so that's why i said 00:08:46.759 --> 00:08:49.299 uh i don't want you to stop giving i just want 00:08:49.299 --> 00:08:52.320 you to redirect your giving and that's why we 00:08:52.320 --> 00:08:55.399 have the charities, you know, about half of the 00:08:55.399 --> 00:08:57.399 charities that we rate are in our recommended 00:08:57.399 --> 00:09:00.500 or highly recommended category. 60 % I would 00:09:00.500 --> 00:09:05.320 say are positive, but 40 % of the 100 are in 00:09:05.320 --> 00:09:08.340 the not recommended category. And that doesn't 00:09:08.340 --> 00:09:10.399 mean that a charity that's not recommended on 00:09:10.399 --> 00:09:13.600 our list doesn't do any good work, but they typically 00:09:13.600 --> 00:09:18.159 don't do it as efficiently as they should. Scams 00:09:18.159 --> 00:09:20.259 are one thing, and as you say, there's plenty 00:09:20.259 --> 00:09:24.549 of it. It's hard to see a scam though, especially 00:09:24.549 --> 00:09:27.429 if it's a smaller one because reporting is not 00:09:27.429 --> 00:09:29.370 that great. The Federal Trade Commission doesn't 00:09:29.370 --> 00:09:32.070 do a good job. The Internal Revenue Service does 00:09:32.070 --> 00:09:37.730 a terrible job. So at the end of the day, what 00:09:37.730 --> 00:09:41.889 we end up doing is we say to people, look, this 00:09:41.889 --> 00:09:45.740 charity here, maybe it has 90 % over it. Well, 00:09:45.879 --> 00:09:49.100 so 10 % of their of their money is going to good 00:09:49.100 --> 00:09:51.220 things and if you ask them, well, what have you 00:09:51.220 --> 00:09:53.600 done? They'll give you the 10 % And you know, 00:09:53.940 --> 00:09:56.240 we here's what we did and it sounds good until 00:09:56.240 --> 00:09:59.019 you find out that That they're wasting a whole 00:09:59.019 --> 00:10:01.480 lot of money on their way to that to that victory 00:10:01.480 --> 00:10:05.399 if you will Yeah, you've got two issues here 00:10:05.399 --> 00:10:08.320 going in trying to rate folks, right? There's 00:10:08.320 --> 00:10:13.230 sort of the are they are they efficient? Are 00:10:13.230 --> 00:10:17.610 their administrative costs low and are they effective? 00:10:18.710 --> 00:10:20.970 Which do you look at or do you look at them both? 00:10:21.629 --> 00:10:24.830 Well that's a great question. You're very prophetic 00:10:24.830 --> 00:10:29.429 about our work. Here's what we started out with. 00:10:30.169 --> 00:10:32.710 Efficiency is a lot easier because you're really 00:10:32.710 --> 00:10:37.330 looking at math. I look at state fundraising 00:10:37.330 --> 00:10:41.360 reports. I look at Their IRS of course is where 00:10:41.360 --> 00:10:44.559 most of the information comes from and I can 00:10:44.559 --> 00:10:47.519 tell you you know because two and two is four 00:10:47.519 --> 00:10:51.559 all day long Just look at it you could add stuff 00:10:51.559 --> 00:10:55.220 up and and you know people people come back to 00:10:55.220 --> 00:10:57.139 me and they say how can you do that? you know, 00:10:57.279 --> 00:10:59.379 how can you rate us that way and I say it's just 00:10:59.379 --> 00:11:02.659 math and And I'm not picking winners and losers. 00:11:02.919 --> 00:11:05.299 I'm just calling balls and strikes if you will 00:11:05.299 --> 00:11:07.460 and you're either over the plate or you're not 00:11:07.460 --> 00:11:11.360 so That's the efficiency that you mentioned. 00:11:12.360 --> 00:11:15.980 Effectiveness, Jim, is very, very difficult because 00:11:15.980 --> 00:11:18.720 there is no way to have a simple template like 00:11:18.720 --> 00:11:21.159 you could have for efficiency. You can't just 00:11:21.159 --> 00:11:23.360 look at someone's IRS form and see if they're 00:11:23.360 --> 00:11:27.080 effective. So in the latter part of this year, 00:11:27.100 --> 00:11:31.500 for the first time, I'm going to put my toe in 00:11:31.500 --> 00:11:35.039 the water on effectiveness. And we are going 00:11:35.039 --> 00:11:38.970 to start Coming up, I have some ideas. I don't 00:11:38.970 --> 00:11:41.009 want to announce them as such because we may 00:11:41.009 --> 00:11:44.190 change them along the way. But we are going to 00:11:44.190 --> 00:11:46.750 get into the effectiveness business. Well, I 00:11:46.750 --> 00:11:51.789 think that's excellent. The efficiency math, 00:11:52.049 --> 00:11:55.169 if you will, and you're a guy familiar and comfortable 00:11:55.169 --> 00:11:58.870 with numbers. is sort of black and white. And 00:11:58.870 --> 00:12:00.750 as you say, they can call you up and complain 00:12:00.750 --> 00:12:02.870 about the rating, but you say, look at your numbers, 00:12:02.889 --> 00:12:05.970 it's math. And you're getting that from what 00:12:05.970 --> 00:12:10.870 I'll call open sources, right? This is, there 00:12:10.870 --> 00:12:15.090 are IRS form 990 and this is their tax returns 00:12:15.090 --> 00:12:17.389 and maybe things on their own website that they 00:12:17.389 --> 00:12:20.289 publish, maybe things that they report to the 00:12:20.289 --> 00:12:23.590 state attorney generals. So that's all open source. 00:12:23.610 --> 00:12:28.100 They can't be very critical. to the organization 00:12:28.100 --> 00:12:31.460 about that, I suspect, or once they are critical, 00:12:31.700 --> 00:12:34.279 they quickly back away. Is that what you've been 00:12:34.279 --> 00:12:37.940 experiencing? Yeah, and of course, you can still 00:12:37.940 --> 00:12:40.480 game the system if you're looking to do that, 00:12:40.700 --> 00:12:43.580 if you're the charity, but we look a little tighter 00:12:43.580 --> 00:12:45.519 at it. For instance, there's something called 00:12:45.519 --> 00:12:48.279 joint cost accounting, where people are able 00:12:48.279 --> 00:12:52.860 to hide their overhead by saying that what they're 00:12:52.860 --> 00:12:56.590 doing is educating people. And without getting 00:12:56.590 --> 00:13:00.350 into the weeds on it, we don't allow people to 00:13:00.350 --> 00:13:03.590 spend very much money on what we'll call joint 00:13:03.590 --> 00:13:05.610 cost of county where they're hiding their overhead. 00:13:06.750 --> 00:13:08.809 There's always a little bit of it that goes on. 00:13:09.490 --> 00:13:13.429 But if you're over the line as far as we're concerned, 00:13:13.470 --> 00:13:16.750 and we do draw some lines as to how much is too 00:13:16.750 --> 00:13:20.909 much, then we will negatively, it will downgrade 00:13:20.909 --> 00:13:25.450 organizations. So yes, it's just math. I went 00:13:25.450 --> 00:13:28.830 through the website and I do see that you draw 00:13:28.830 --> 00:13:31.549 some lines about what how much should or shouldn't 00:13:31.549 --> 00:13:35.450 be spent on Administrative overhead like that 00:13:35.450 --> 00:13:37.889 sort of thing. Can you talk a little bit about 00:13:37.889 --> 00:13:41.649 the lines that you draw? Yeah Well, for instance 00:13:41.649 --> 00:13:45.090 if you on fundraising if the fundraiser is making 00:13:45.090 --> 00:13:48.610 more money Than the charity is off of a particular 00:13:48.610 --> 00:13:52.620 campaign. We say they're not recommended If if 00:13:52.620 --> 00:13:56.539 you've got more than 25 percent of your budget 00:13:56.539 --> 00:13:59.840 Devoted to overhead more than 25 percent. We 00:13:59.840 --> 00:14:03.700 say you're not recommending And and mind you 00:14:03.700 --> 00:14:05.700 there are charities out there where their overhead 00:14:05.700 --> 00:14:08.820 is under 10 percent And so when I see a charity 00:14:08.820 --> 00:14:11.320 that's got 50 percent overhead or 60 percent 00:14:11.320 --> 00:14:13.440 over it I think you know, there's no reason that 00:14:13.440 --> 00:14:16.049 this thing can't be managed properly and And 00:14:16.049 --> 00:14:18.750 again, it's not necessarily a scam, but there 00:14:18.750 --> 00:14:21.129 is a lot of people who are running these organizations 00:14:21.129 --> 00:14:23.210 who shouldn't be running a convenience store. 00:14:24.830 --> 00:14:28.190 They're just not that good at running a business. 00:14:28.870 --> 00:14:32.230 And we know that's true about all sorts of institutions 00:14:32.230 --> 00:14:34.309 where people are managing more money than they 00:14:34.309 --> 00:14:38.549 have any knowledge of managing. So the fundraising, 00:14:38.789 --> 00:14:41.909 the 25 % overhead, maybe you have too much money 00:14:41.909 --> 00:14:44.679 in the bank. People are giving you money. and 00:14:44.679 --> 00:14:48.440 you're keeping it in reserve for some rainy day. 00:14:49.379 --> 00:14:51.480 That's what I heard somebody tell me once in 00:14:51.480 --> 00:14:54.919 the early stages of this. He had five times his 00:14:54.919 --> 00:14:57.299 budget in reserves. And I said, why do you have 00:14:57.299 --> 00:14:59.519 so much money there? People are giving you the 00:14:59.519 --> 00:15:01.320 money to spend on veterans and you're putting 00:15:01.320 --> 00:15:03.679 it in the bank, so to speak. And he says, it's 00:15:03.679 --> 00:15:06.779 a rainy day. It's a rainy day fund. And I said, 00:15:06.820 --> 00:15:09.960 well, for some of these disabled veterans, it's 00:15:09.960 --> 00:15:13.000 raining every day. So how about spending the 00:15:13.000 --> 00:15:15.950 money? And so if you've got more than three years 00:15:15.950 --> 00:15:18.970 worth of your budget and reserve, we will downgrade 00:15:18.970 --> 00:15:22.710 people for that. And that may be, I just hinted 00:15:22.710 --> 00:15:24.730 at something that may be the most important fact. 00:15:25.250 --> 00:15:27.909 If you look at other rating agencies, there are 00:15:27.909 --> 00:15:29.830 some other rating agencies out there that rate 00:15:29.830 --> 00:15:31.669 charities of every kind. Now, of course, we're 00:15:31.669 --> 00:15:33.629 just doing veterans, and we're only doing 100 00:15:33.629 --> 00:15:37.289 veterans, veteran charities. But what they do 00:15:37.289 --> 00:15:41.220 is that they they grade these organizations whatever 00:15:41.220 --> 00:15:43.000 whatever kind of organization they're grading 00:15:43.000 --> 00:15:46.259 there's an there's an averaging component to 00:15:46.259 --> 00:15:49.240 their algorithm so if you're good in one area 00:15:49.240 --> 00:15:52.460 and you're bad in another area they average it 00:15:52.460 --> 00:15:55.700 out by some some formula that they have and so 00:15:55.700 --> 00:15:58.379 now you get a middling grade you got an a here 00:15:58.379 --> 00:16:01.320 and an f here so you get a c now you're sounding 00:16:01.320 --> 00:16:04.340 like my high school geometry teacher here yeah 00:16:04.340 --> 00:16:07.799 yeah exactly so i mean And everybody's familiar 00:16:07.799 --> 00:16:10.620 with that. You know, you do one area, you do 00:16:10.620 --> 00:16:15.080 another. Well, with us, we decided that that 00:16:15.080 --> 00:16:18.980 wasn't the way to go. If we had these main factors 00:16:18.980 --> 00:16:22.679 and if somebody's got excessive overhead, but 00:16:22.679 --> 00:16:25.740 they're good in all these other areas, we're 00:16:25.740 --> 00:16:27.220 not going to average it. We're going to say if 00:16:27.220 --> 00:16:29.919 you got excessive overhead, you fail. And so. 00:16:30.110 --> 00:16:32.929 We have a pass fail system for every one of the 00:16:32.929 --> 00:16:35.289 factors that we use in our judging. And if you 00:16:35.289 --> 00:16:38.090 fail in any one of those factors, you hit the 00:16:38.090 --> 00:16:41.110 not recommended category. So we're talking to 00:16:41.110 --> 00:16:44.809 Rick Berman who's the executive director of for 00:16:44.809 --> 00:16:47.870 Ram Veterans Foundation which is spearheading 00:16:47.870 --> 00:16:51.649 with the Mercer Family Foundation a interesting 00:16:51.649 --> 00:16:54.950 website called charities for vets org that ranks 00:16:54.950 --> 00:16:59.149 the top hundred veteran focused charities in 00:16:59.149 --> 00:17:02.429 the country and One of the things that I also 00:17:02.429 --> 00:17:05.670 liked not only is that you draw lines but you're 00:17:05.670 --> 00:17:08.130 willing to say, you know, name names, if you 00:17:08.130 --> 00:17:10.190 will. Hey, here's the recommended, here's the 00:17:10.190 --> 00:17:12.609 not recommended. You actually have a screen that 00:17:12.609 --> 00:17:17.450 says examples of waste and abuse. And when I'm 00:17:17.450 --> 00:17:19.329 looking at these, one of the things that sort 00:17:19.329 --> 00:17:23.470 of comes to my mind is there's a lot of similarity 00:17:23.470 --> 00:17:26.849 in names or confusing names where I think I'm 00:17:26.849 --> 00:17:30.250 doing a national organization, maybe, you know, 00:17:30.250 --> 00:17:33.150 one of the VSOs, Veterans Service Organizations, 00:17:33.269 --> 00:17:36.039 but I'm thinking, I bet there's somebody else. 00:17:36.579 --> 00:17:38.960 Have you bumped into that, that some of this 00:17:38.960 --> 00:17:44.440 is name confusion as to which charity I'm giving 00:17:44.440 --> 00:17:48.180 to? You know, absolutely. And, you know, a lot 00:17:48.180 --> 00:17:50.740 of the people who give the charities are older 00:17:50.740 --> 00:17:54.799 people and it's easy for them to get screwed 00:17:54.799 --> 00:17:56.920 up by thinking that they're given to one and 00:17:56.920 --> 00:17:59.460 they're actually given to another. The brand 00:17:59.460 --> 00:18:04.849 confusion is rampant. Actually, you can see some 00:18:04.849 --> 00:18:07.970 of that on our website. But, you know, I once 00:18:07.970 --> 00:18:11.730 looked up, this is a year or two ago, I once 00:18:11.730 --> 00:18:13.950 looked up how many organizations had wounded 00:18:13.950 --> 00:18:18.009 warriors in their name. And there were 57 organizations 00:18:18.009 --> 00:18:21.609 that had wounded warriors in their name. Could 00:18:21.609 --> 00:18:25.890 be wounded warriors of Detroit or a lot of variations. 00:18:26.279 --> 00:18:30.480 So sure, you're right on that one, Jim. No, I 00:18:30.480 --> 00:18:32.579 was searching for the right word, but you used 00:18:32.579 --> 00:18:36.900 it. It's brand confusion. It's, geez, is the 00:18:36.900 --> 00:18:39.279 Disabled Veterans National Foundation, which 00:18:39.279 --> 00:18:42.039 is on your list of examples of waste and abuse, 00:18:42.740 --> 00:18:45.539 is that DAV? I read it again. I said, well, that's 00:18:45.539 --> 00:18:50.700 not DAV. I mean, it's easy for even those paying 00:18:50.700 --> 00:18:53.460 attention to get confused, the Purple Heart Veterans 00:18:53.460 --> 00:18:57.509 Foundation. I don't think that's the Purple Heart 00:18:57.509 --> 00:18:59.710 Legion. I think that's something else, you know. 00:19:00.009 --> 00:19:06.490 So you've done a hundred of these and there are 00:19:06.490 --> 00:19:10.289 probably thousands because your criteria was 00:19:10.289 --> 00:19:14.390 what, two million or something in annual giving 00:19:14.390 --> 00:19:17.190 or receiving? It's now three million, three million 00:19:17.190 --> 00:19:21.369 or more. Okay. There's so many small ones. It's 00:19:21.369 --> 00:19:27.940 ridiculous. Yeah. What advice do you give folks 00:19:27.940 --> 00:19:30.480 who go, well, I don't see this on your list, 00:19:30.519 --> 00:19:32.920 but that doesn't mean anything other than it's 00:19:32.920 --> 00:19:36.039 not big enough to get rated. That's right. And, 00:19:36.039 --> 00:19:38.240 and, and I might've even missed some big ones, 00:19:38.240 --> 00:19:39.900 you know, every so often we'll find one that 00:19:39.900 --> 00:19:43.339 we didn't know existed. But, uh, but that's the 00:19:43.339 --> 00:19:45.440 problem. Uh, someone told me once they had done 00:19:45.440 --> 00:19:47.039 the, they had done the research and that there 00:19:47.039 --> 00:19:50.440 were 45 ,000 veterans organizations. or organization 00:19:50.440 --> 00:19:52.740 with veterans in their name. That doesn't surprise 00:19:52.740 --> 00:19:54.940 me. That number is a shocking number, but I go, 00:19:55.119 --> 00:19:58.660 yeah, probably. Yeah, and a lot of them are these 00:19:58.660 --> 00:20:02.119 mom and pop operations. And people with a good 00:20:02.119 --> 00:20:05.319 heart, I'm not saying everybody does this for 00:20:05.319 --> 00:20:08.680 criminal reasons. People with a good heart, they 00:20:08.680 --> 00:20:10.940 start one of these. In fact, I get a lot of people 00:20:10.940 --> 00:20:13.880 from these small ones who ask if we would please 00:20:13.880 --> 00:20:16.240 rate them because we're doing a lot of advertising 00:20:16.240 --> 00:20:19.079 and they'd like to be on our website. And I tell 00:20:19.079 --> 00:20:22.200 them, look, I don't have the bandwidth to go 00:20:22.200 --> 00:20:24.799 after all these groups. I want to just go after 00:20:24.799 --> 00:20:27.059 the ones that are big enough to be making a difference. 00:20:28.500 --> 00:20:30.299 Well, and I see some of these that you've rated, 00:20:30.299 --> 00:20:33.759 you know, combined and it's probably a marketer's 00:20:33.759 --> 00:20:36.500 dream, right? Let's combine veterans and dogs. 00:20:37.299 --> 00:20:39.220 That's everybody likes that. And you've got a 00:20:39.220 --> 00:20:42.440 few of those like, Hey, they're the lines we 00:20:42.440 --> 00:20:45.119 draw that some of these aren't good because they've 00:20:45.119 --> 00:20:48.779 got too much spend too much here or there notwithstanding 00:20:48.779 --> 00:20:51.819 they're plucking two of your heartstrings dogs 00:20:51.819 --> 00:20:54.680 and veterans you got it yeah there are there 00:20:54.680 --> 00:20:56.880 are several service dogs that organizations for 00:20:56.880 --> 00:21:00.400 veterans yep did as you went through and you 00:21:00.400 --> 00:21:03.619 do this and continue to refine it what has surprised 00:21:03.619 --> 00:21:09.099 you um Well, in a positive way, one of the things 00:21:09.099 --> 00:21:11.339 that surprised me is that some people have called 00:21:11.339 --> 00:21:13.700 me up after we, you know, they discovered that 00:21:13.700 --> 00:21:15.759 we're rating them and we're rating them poorly. 00:21:17.519 --> 00:21:19.940 They've said, OK, we understand why you rated 00:21:19.940 --> 00:21:23.599 us poorly. And we think that we could probably 00:21:23.599 --> 00:21:26.599 change the way we do business. And we'd like 00:21:26.599 --> 00:21:29.460 to get into a different category of recommended. 00:21:29.559 --> 00:21:32.019 And I say, you know, one of the things that we 00:21:32.019 --> 00:21:33.880 have, it's a signature of our group, is that 00:21:33.880 --> 00:21:37.470 I will take any appeal. any reasonable appeal. 00:21:37.910 --> 00:21:42.369 And if you make that case, we will in fact change 00:21:42.369 --> 00:21:45.470 the ratings. And so I've actually done that two 00:21:45.470 --> 00:21:49.369 or three times. So that was a good thing. It 00:21:49.369 --> 00:21:51.450 surprised me that people were willing and supposed 00:21:51.450 --> 00:21:55.009 to just getting nasty about it. The flip side 00:21:55.009 --> 00:21:58.250 of that is that there have been some very nasty 00:21:58.250 --> 00:22:00.910 people who have been angry over the fact that 00:22:00.910 --> 00:22:04.019 we rated them the way that we did. And I said, 00:22:04.119 --> 00:22:06.200 look, that goes back to what we talked about 00:22:06.200 --> 00:22:08.559 earlier. I said, look, it's just math. And they'll 00:22:08.559 --> 00:22:10.660 say, well, you're looking at it incorrectly. 00:22:10.839 --> 00:22:12.619 There are some people who say overhead should 00:22:12.619 --> 00:22:16.240 not be a factor. I say, well, you can make that 00:22:16.240 --> 00:22:18.539 case if you want to. But if you're wasting money, 00:22:18.799 --> 00:22:20.660 that's the first place I'm going to see it is 00:22:20.660 --> 00:22:23.700 overhead. And if you want to make the case, someone 00:22:23.700 --> 00:22:26.140 will say, well, we have to pay excessive salaries 00:22:26.140 --> 00:22:29.160 to get good people. I say, That's not the case. 00:22:29.380 --> 00:22:32.500 I mean, I'm doing this for free. I don't, I don't 00:22:32.500 --> 00:22:35.259 take a salary. There are people who will do that. 00:22:35.259 --> 00:22:37.039 And then there are people who are getting $500 00:22:37.039 --> 00:22:40.279 ,000 a year. Well, if you're getting, you know, 00:22:40.500 --> 00:22:42.579 six figure salaries, you're going to have high 00:22:42.579 --> 00:22:45.000 overhead unless you've got really high revenues. 00:22:45.819 --> 00:22:47.980 And if you think the only way you can run this 00:22:47.980 --> 00:22:50.920 is with very expensive staff. Well, it's your 00:22:50.920 --> 00:22:53.819 choice, but I'm going to report it as such. Yeah, 00:22:53.859 --> 00:22:57.480 absolutely. And particularly all of those small. 00:22:58.740 --> 00:23:02.839 sureties in that 45 ,000 number or so there's 00:23:02.839 --> 00:23:05.460 plenty of them that are 100 % volunteer that 00:23:05.460 --> 00:23:08.160 that you know every I don't they don't collect 00:23:08.160 --> 00:23:11.859 more than 40 50 100 200 grand a year but it all 00:23:11.859 --> 00:23:13.920 goes right back out the door so when you get 00:23:13.920 --> 00:23:16.220 just because you got big doesn't mean you get 00:23:16.220 --> 00:23:20.539 to be live lavishly right right I mean you know 00:23:20.539 --> 00:23:23.880 fancy office buildings I mean there's a lot of 00:23:23.880 --> 00:23:27.579 ways to spend money So, Rick, as you go forward 00:23:27.579 --> 00:23:29.559 here and you're kind of going to dip your toe 00:23:29.559 --> 00:23:31.720 into effectiveness, that'll be an interesting 00:23:31.720 --> 00:23:34.880 challenge. And when you get that up and running, 00:23:35.420 --> 00:23:38.539 we'd love to talk to you about that, sort of 00:23:38.539 --> 00:23:41.680 how you set the bar, how you may make some of 00:23:41.680 --> 00:23:44.640 these determinations. But as we wrap up here, 00:23:44.980 --> 00:23:48.099 what advice would you give not only veterans, 00:23:48.319 --> 00:23:50.839 but friends of veterans who are donating to these 00:23:50.839 --> 00:23:53.400 causes? What advice would you give them before 00:23:53.400 --> 00:23:57.640 they write that check? Well, of course not everybody 00:23:57.640 --> 00:24:00.259 has the capacity to do their own research so 00:24:00.259 --> 00:24:03.500 I would like them to say At least if they're 00:24:03.500 --> 00:24:06.039 thinking of a charity that we are already great 00:24:06.039 --> 00:24:09.200 To just go to our website, you know, that's another 00:24:09.200 --> 00:24:11.259 that's another distinguishing feature is that 00:24:11.259 --> 00:24:14.000 our ratings are for free There's no fee. There's 00:24:14.000 --> 00:24:16.279 no subscription you just get on the internet 00:24:16.279 --> 00:24:19.359 and there it is and we're updating it on a very 00:24:19.359 --> 00:24:23.150 regular basis so I would say Go to our website 00:24:23.150 --> 00:24:25.289 and see if it's there. Now, some people have 00:24:25.289 --> 00:24:28.170 called me up or emailed me and say, could you 00:24:28.170 --> 00:24:31.369 please rate this charity for me? And it's not 00:24:31.369 --> 00:24:34.529 on our list. And I typically say, look, here's 00:24:34.529 --> 00:24:38.130 how you rate it. And sometimes if I've got nothing 00:24:38.130 --> 00:24:40.289 better to do with my time, which is not too often, 00:24:40.390 --> 00:24:42.509 I will look at a charity and just do a superficial 00:24:42.509 --> 00:24:44.910 rating. And I'll just go back and say, well, 00:24:44.910 --> 00:24:46.630 they look like they're pretty decent people. 00:24:47.509 --> 00:24:51.829 Or otherwise. So there's not much I can tell 00:24:51.829 --> 00:24:54.250 people. I'm not going to tell people to go and 00:24:54.250 --> 00:24:56.309 do their own research on the, you know, with 00:24:56.309 --> 00:24:59.369 tax returns, because if you can read a tax return, 00:24:59.470 --> 00:25:01.369 you don't need my advice to tell you to go find 00:25:01.369 --> 00:25:07.130 it. No, for most people that we don't have the 00:25:07.130 --> 00:25:11.029 time, we don't have the expertise, the patience 00:25:11.029 --> 00:25:15.779 to do all the homework. That's why Charitiesforvets 00:25:15.779 --> 00:25:19.500 .org is so important. I want to thank Rick Berman 00:25:19.500 --> 00:25:21.579 for his time today and for the good work that 00:25:21.579 --> 00:25:24.500 Ram Veterans Foundation and Mercer Family Foundation 00:25:24.500 --> 00:25:27.259 are funding through this effort. Rick, I really 00:25:27.259 --> 00:25:30.019 appreciate you explaining this to us today. Jim, 00:25:30.079 --> 00:25:34.119 it's been my pleasure. And I want to thank everybody 00:25:34.119 --> 00:25:36.940 for listening to Veterans Radio today. I am Jim 00:25:36.940 --> 00:25:39.819 Fawzone. It's been a pleasure to be your host. 00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:42.619 I'm a veterans disability lawyer at Legal Help 00:25:42.619 --> 00:25:46.599 for Veterans and you can reach us at 800 -693 00:25:46.599 --> 00:25:51.420 -4800 or legalhelpforveterans .com on the web. 00:25:52.119 --> 00:25:55.000 You can follow Veterans Radio on Facebook and 00:25:55.000 --> 00:25:57.839 listen to its podcasts and internet radio shows 00:25:57.839 --> 00:26:02.130 by visiting us at veteransradio .org. That's 00:26:02.130 --> 00:26:05.390 veteransradio .org. We would again want to thank 00:26:05.390 --> 00:26:08.509 our national sponsors, the National Veterans 00:26:08.509 --> 00:26:13.950 Business Development Council, nvbdc .org. Legal 00:26:13.950 --> 00:26:17.369 Help for Veterans, a veterans disability law 00:26:17.369 --> 00:26:22.430 firm with a national practice before the VA can 00:26:22.430 --> 00:26:26.089 help you on your claims and your appeals. It 00:26:26.089 --> 00:26:29.490 can be reached at legalhelpforveterans .com or 00:26:29.490 --> 00:26:36.809 1 -800 -693 -4800. And PuroClean, a leader in 00:26:36.809 --> 00:26:40.630 property emergency services. It's the paramedics 00:26:40.630 --> 00:26:44.410 of property damage, providing water damage remediation, 00:26:44.710 --> 00:26:47.910 flood water removal, fire and smoke damage remediation, 00:26:48.710 --> 00:26:52.430 mold and biohazard cleanups. You can reach them 00:26:52.430 --> 00:27:00.160 at puroclean .com. or 800 -775 -7876. We also 00:27:00.160 --> 00:27:03.099 want to thank our local sponsors. This would 00:27:03.099 --> 00:27:08.940 include the Charles S. Kettles chapter of the 00:27:08.940 --> 00:27:12.180 Vietnam Veterans of America, that's chapter 310, 00:27:12.539 --> 00:27:17.420 VFW Graf O 'Hara post 423, the American Legion 00:27:17.420 --> 00:27:21.430 Erwin Preskin post 46 in Ann Arbor as well. the 00:27:21.430 --> 00:27:24.190 VA Ann Arbor Health Care System, and certainly 00:27:24.190 --> 00:27:27.289 the National Vietnam Veterans of America Association. 00:27:27.970 --> 00:27:30.609 You can be a sponsor by going to veteransradio 00:27:30.609 --> 00:27:35.029 .org, clicking on the About Us and our sponsors, 00:27:35.130 --> 00:27:38.309 and help us out. Keep this program alive for 00:27:38.309 --> 00:27:42.849 the 21 and 22 years. Keep us going for another 00:27:42.849 --> 00:27:44.049 20. Thank you.